Mind Over Matter
by Swing Girl At Heart
Summary: Artie walks in on Tina and Mike rehearsing their dance for Dream a Little Dream, and sort of...overreacts.  Even cripples can have the upper hand sometimes.  It's all about control.  Expect the Unexpected.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So, this is part of the _Expect The Unexpected_ series I'm working on, which is, frankly, exactly what it sounds like. As part of my everlasting quest to defy any and all possible cliches, something completely unfathomable occurs with one member of the Glee club in each fic of the series. The goal? To have each character (even Matt and Mike, poor underfed pups) so far out of their league, but still remain in character. This is installment number seven, but none of them are connected plot-wise, so there aren't any prequels you have to read for any of them. Some will be tragic, some scary, some mysterious, some humorous. Enough jabber - please enjoy!

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_Mind Over Matter_**  
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The choir room was unoccupied on Friday afternoon except for the Glee club's two resident Asians, standing in the middle of the floor. Tina was concentrating hard on the way Mike's feet were moving, trying to figure out how to mimic them without looking like a total klutz. It was truly amazing how clumsy she could manage to be even after replacing her clunky combat boots with tap shoes. The meeting had started out with Tina showing Mike the steps she'd come up with to accompany Artie's voice for _Dream A Little Dream_, but being the hyperactive dancer that he was Mike insisted on improving them, and the session had quickly turned into a lesson.

"Too fast?" Mike asked.

She sighed, nodding sheepishly.

He grinned reassuringly. "Don't worry about it. Here, watch." He went through the last few steps again, more slowly, and again, she attempted to copy them.

"You got it!" Mike exclaimed, holding up his hand for a high five. She slapped it, a dubious expression on her face.

"It still feels awkward," she said.

Mike shrugged. "Looked fine to me. Should we practice going into the waltz?"

"Sure." Tina still felt a little uneasy about dancing with Mike despite the fact that Artie had reluctantly urged her in that direction, but she wasn't about to voice her concerns to Mike. It was between her and Artie, and her and Artie alone.

Mike seemed to pick up on her hesitance as soon as he grabbed her hand and looped an arm around her lower back, though, and he said as much. "Something wrong?" They weren't exactly close, but the fact that he was touching her was making her a little uncomfortable.

"It's just…" she started, avoiding his expectant look. "I'd never be able to do this with Artie."

As soon as she'd said it, she regretted it, but Mike took it in stride. His brow furrowed in friendly concern. "And…you're worried 'cause you think he might be jealous?"

Tina didn't _think_ he'd be jealous, she _knew_ he'd be jealous. But rather than admit Artie's private feelings to her new, able-bodied dance partner, she bit her lip and merely shrugged.

"Didn't you say that Artie told you that you should pick someone else to dance with?" Mike said.

"He did."

"Then what are you worried about?" Mike asked, breaking into a lopsided smile. "Artie's a reasonable guy; after all, it's not like you're going behind his back. He's not gonna freak out on you like Finn did with Babygate."

She sighed. Mike did have a point, but she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something Artie was holding back from her. "Okay," she finally said.

Mike grinned. "Okay, you ready? Watch my feet. It's one, two, three, and one, two, three, and…"

Slowly but surely, Mike waltzed her around the room, keeping the beat and making sure her feet were following his. Amidst his gently-encouraging comments and light coaching, Tina wondered why Mike was on the football team rather than in groups like Rachel's ballet club or McKinley's lesser-known street dance club. Gradually, they gained speed, working their way up to what Mike had dubbed a "leaping waltz", with more bounce in each step and a slightly different beat. She squeaked in surprise when Mike suddenly twirled her under his arm before looping his arm back around her torso and picking up the dance again without missing so much as a step. Eventually, the dance ended as Mike, caught up in the movement, bowed over, holding Tina nearly horizontal in the final flourish.

He grinned down at her. "You're a good dancer," he said.

She rolled her eyes dismissively, but laughed, now more at ease. Mike was right – Artie wasn't going to freak out on her. Whatever problems he had with her choice of dance partner they could solve on their own time.

"So what do you think?" Mike asked. "Good for Regionals?"

"Definitely," she said. "All we have to worry about now is me falling."

Mike laughed and was about to reply, but an angry voice interrupted him from the doorway.

"What the _hell_."

The second Tina saw Artie, she jumped away from Mike as if he'd electrocuted her, painfully aware that Artie had seen the two of them in a position that could only be described as romantic.

"What the _hell!_" Artie repeated, louder. He was looking back and forth between the two of them, demanding an explanation.

"Artie, man—" Mike started.

Tina stopped him with a slight shake of her head. "Artie," she said. "We were just working on our dance routine, okay? It's not what it looks like."

It was clear from Artie's expression that he wasn't buying it. Tina could see his fingers curling.

"Artie, you _told_ me—"

"That you could do the dance with Mike!" he finished furiously. "The dance that _we_ rehearsed! And if I remember _our_ dance right, it had nothing to do with my hands being all over you!"

The last statement was uttered with so much ferocity that Tina reflexively took a step back.

"Hey!" Mike cut in. "Artie, you _know_ Tina and I are just friends." Tina nodded fervently in agreement.

"It didn't look like it," Artie growled, and Tina could almost hear his teeth clicking. His fingers were clamped around his push rims, the knuckles white. A tendon in his neck twitched.

Suddenly, the tension in the room was shattered with the sound of breaking glass, then tinkling as shards rained down and scattered across the floor. Tina and Mike jumped in surprise. Artie didn't so much as blink. One of the glass panels in the bank of storage cupboards behind the piano had blown out as if it had been smashed from the inside with a baseball bat, and before Tina and Mike had time to react, the pane beside it also exploded. Tina yelped. "What the—" Mike whispered.

The next three cupboard doors blew out in rapid succession, causing Tina to scream and edge closer to Mike. Then the glass panes in the choir room doors simultaneously exploded. Then the line of windows above the risers. Mike yelled and leaped back, pulling Tina with him as shards of glass scattered dangerously close to their feet.

"What the hell?" Mike cried, his eyes wide.

"Scared?"

The two Asians flinched – both had nearly forgotten that Artie was there. They turned around slowly to find that Artie was watching them with an even stare.

"Artie…" Tina whispered, her breath hitching in her throat. Then, Artie did something that nearly made her heart stop altogether.

He smirked.

Movement to his left drew Tina's horrified gaze away from him, and she felt her throat close up when she saw that the millions of glass shards were suspended, rising in the air and glinting in the light. A quick glance behind them showed that the glass on the risers was doing the same.

And Artie was still smirking.

A split second before the glass hovering all around the room shot inward, Mike grabbed Tina and wrapped his arms around her, covering up as much of her as his lanky frame would cover. He let out a pained cry when the razor-sharp slivers tore through both his clothes and skin, and Tina felt his body jerk upon impact. She was more fortunate than him – her layers of black clothing shielded her from even the largest pieces, but when Mike let go of her, looking green in the face, she shrieked as she saw thousands of tiny cuts all of his arms, back, legs, even the sides of his face.

"Oh, my God," was all she managed to say. She turned back to Artie, her expression of absolute terror.

Artie only raised his eyebrows in what appeared to be mild amusement.

Mike stumbled slightly, dizzy. "What – what the _fuck_ are you doing?" he hissed. "How are you doing this?"

"When you can't walk or run, you have to compensate in other ways," Artie said simply. "Even cripples can have the upper hand sometimes."

"Oh, my God," Tina said again, feeling light in the head. She would _not_ have a panic attack now.

Mike looked just as dizzy. All the cuts on his body were bleeding, some more freely than others, and most of them still had glass inside. He felt like he'd been shoved through a window, and the fact that Tina's boyfriend was smirking at him was more than a little unsettling.

"Artie, please…" Tina whispered. "What – whatever you're doing…please don't."

"No, you know what?" Artie snapped. "I'm _sick_ of being the jilted guy, okay? I'm sick of it."

"Jilted?" Tina cried. "Artie, we were just dancing, please!"

"_Don't!_" Artie yelled, and the fluorescent lights on the ceiling gave under the pressure, showering them in sparks and more glass.

At that, Mike decided he'd had enough. He grabbed Tina's arm and pulled her along as he bolted from the choir room. He didn't bother to take note of Artie's expression as they fled, and as soon as they emerged into the hall, a locker on the opposite wall exploded, the door slamming open and the contents flying out. He spun on his heel and dragged Tina down the corridor, the taps of their tap shoes impossible to hear beneath the noise of clanging metal and crashing books as each locker in turn blew out as they passed.

"In here! In here!" Mike yanked on her arm and pulled her through the door to the auditorium.

It was dark and silent in the auditorium after the door swung shut behind them, and they just stood for several seconds, breathing hard. Tina's hands were shaking and Mike dropped dizzily into one of the audience seats, looking like he was about to be sick.

"What…what d-do we do?" Tina stammered.

Mike was bleeding and he was out of breath and he was scared _shitless_ – he had no idea what was going on or how Artie was causing shit to blow up, but he _did_ know and he _did_ understand that Artie was pissed, and Artie was pissed at _him._ And after what he'd just run through, he was _not_ up for being on the Wheelchair Kid's bad side. "I don't think your boyfriend likes me very much," he said under his breath, and the message beneath it screamed _HOW THE FUCK DID YOU NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS._

"W-what do w-we do?" Tina repeated.

"I don't know."

She hugged her torso, seeming to shrink at least two sizes smaller. "Y-you don't think h-h-he'll follow us, do you?"

Mike said nothing, and they just sat and tried to figure out what the hell had just happened.

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**A/N: Please leave a review and tell me what you think of it. If you enjoyed it and are interested in the concept of this series, add me to Author Alert to be notified when the other installments in the series are posted. So far, Brittany's, Santana's, Tina's, Kurt's, Mercedes' and Puck's are posted - please check them out.**


	2. Chapter 2

_Mind Over Matter_

As the time ticked by in stunned silence, neither Asian said a word, each trying to process the events of the previous five minutes.

"I-I think I'm having a panic attack," Tina said after several minutes, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.

"Sit down," Mike panted, still dizzy and out of breath. "Just – just relax for a second." He rubbed his forehead, his hand shaking very slightly, and winced when his palm brushed over a cut on his temple.

Tina let out a long breath, trying to steel her nerves, and reached forward to move Mike's hand aside. "Hold still," she said softly. Carefully, with her black-painted fingernails, she delicately gripped the tiny shard of glass embedded in Mike's skin and pulled it out, Mike letting out a small hiss as a tiny droplet of blood slid down his cheek after it. Tina pressed the cuff of her sleeve against the cut.

"One cut down, a thousand to go," Mike joked flatly.

"Are you okay?"

"Honestly? I'm totally freaked."

"I meant your cuts."

Mike sighed. "They're fine. Not really high up on my list of concerns, though."

"We should get you to a hospital," Tina said, sitting down on the seat beside him.

"Well, first, we should probably figure out how to get out of the school without Artie noticing us." Mike swallowed. "We're kind of up shit creek without a paddle, huh?"

Tina didn't respond for a few moments, instead focusing her energy on keeping her breathing even. "For the record," she said shakily, "I had no idea that Artie could do that."

"I figured."

"Should we call 911?"

"I don't know. This is some fucked-up _Heroes_ shit. Next thing we know, Puck's gonna start shooting fire out of his ass."

"You swear more when you're freaked."

"Huh?"

Tina shrugged. "Just an observation."

"Well, save the observations for when we're out of here. Right now, we're just fish in a barrel."

"Yeah, you _really_ are," snapped a third voice.

Tina froze, her eyes widening as she stared in the direction of the stage. Mike followed her gaze, immediately tensing. He swore under his breath. Artie was sitting in the middle of the stage, having entered the auditorium through the backstage door.

"Just tell me, Tina," he bit out. "Why him?"

"Artie, _please_," she breathed. "Mike and I weren't doing anything—"

"_Like hell you weren't!_" Artie shouted suddenly, making Tina and Mike flinch. A light high up above the stage smashed.

"Artie," Tina started again, standing up as she tried to plead with him. "Mike isn't a part of this. Just let him go, and then you and me can talk."

"I'm done talking, Tina," he spat. "Though I do have to admit that it's a little amusing, you leaving me for a dancer. Way to twist the knife, Tee."

"For god's sake, Artie, _listen to me_!" Tina cried.

"I _did_ listen!" he yelled, and the lights in the ceiling flickered. "I listened when you lied about your stutter! I listened when you were having a hard time dealing with your shyness! I listened when you wanted to know about my accident! I listened to _everything!_" Another stage light shattered. "And now, I'm done listening."

There was a creak from the back of the theater, and Tina and Mike looked over their shoulders to see the doors swing shut with a resounding _boom_. The sound of the locks sliding into place echoed throughout the auditorium, and Tina could almost feel her heart stop.

"Artie, what are you—"

"No, Tina," Artie stopped her. "_Your_ turn to listen."

* * *

Will had just gotten home to his apartment and was in the middle of taking off his coat when his telephone rang. He threw his jacket over the back of one of the dining room chairs and answered the phone in the kitchen. "Hello?"

"Schue, I need you back at school immediately," Figgins' voice said on the other end, sounding strained.

Will frowned. "Why? What's going on?"

"There's been an incident involving your Glee club."

Will had dropped the phone and was back in his car before the apartment door could swing shut behind him.

When he pulled into the school parking lot, there were red lights flashing at the entrance, and his heart sank. He parked his car by the sidewalk, not caring that it was illegal to park there, and ran over to the ambulance, getting there just as a small team of EMTs was exiting the school, a gurney between them. Will froze, gaping as they lifted the stretcher into the back of the ambulance, the person on it covered in a white sheet.

There was a body.

There was a _body_.

_Oh, God._

He forced himself to approach one of the EMTs. "Excuse me," he started, his heart pounding. "What – what happened?"

The EMT glanced at his clipboard. "There was a fight of some sort in the auditorium and the kid got electrocuted."

"Who?"

He peered at the clipboard again. "Some kid named Artie. He a friend of yours?"

Will didn't answer, staring blankly at the body in the back of the ambulance. That wasn't Artie. That _couldn't_ be Artie.

"William!"

Will's head snapped up to see Figgins standing grimly at the top of the steps. The ambulance doors were closed and then the vehicle slowly pulled out of the parking lot. "William, I need to see you in my office," Figgins called.

In a haze, Will cast one last look at the ambulance driving away and followed his boss inside. "God, what happened?" he asked as they walked down the corridor.

"I'm not sure," said Figgins gravely. "We're still trying to figure it out. As far as we know, there was a conflict of some sort between Mr. Abrams and Mr. Chang and Miss Cohen-Chang, and possibly some faulty equipment in the auditorium, but that's as far as my knowledge serves me."

"Mike and Tina were involved in this?"

Figgins nodded. "Miss Cohen-Chang is in my office now, but Mr. Chang was in need of medical attention, so he's in the nurse's office."

Will's heart skipped again. "Mike was hurt? How badly?"

"Nothing he'll have to go to the hospital for – only some scrapes and bruises," Figgins answered. "It was Mr. Abrams who bore the brunt of it."

"Jesus Christ," Will breathed. "How could this happen?"

"Maybe you ought to take a look yourself," Figgins said, gesturing towards the auditorium door as they approached it.

Will took a deep breath, steeling himself for whatever could be waiting behind the door, and pulled it open. When he saw the damage done to the auditorium, the air left his lungs in a heavy _whoosh_.

The stage had been destroyed.

All of the equipment suspended above the stage had come crashing down to the floor and had turned the stage floor into a heap of rubble – cracked spotlights, tangled and frayed electrical wires, bent suspension rods… and Artie's empty wheelchair in the middle.


	3. Chapter 3

_Mind Over Matter_

Tina was sitting slumped in one of the chairs across from Figgins' desk, her makeup smudged, her clothes damp and glass shards stuck in her wet hair. She was fidgeting in her seat, squirming and wanting to leave. She'd been waiting for almost ten minutes, and she wanted nothing more than to go home.

The door opened behind her, and Mr. Schue entered, followed by Principal Figgins. "Tina, are you all right?" Mr. Schue asked, sinking into the chair next to her, a hand on her forearm.

She only nodded in response, avoiding his gaze.

"Now, Miss Cohen-Chang," Figgins said, sitting behind his desk and leaning on his elbows. "Tell us what happened."

She swallowed before opening her mouth. "I – I don't really know, exactly, but, uh…" She fiddled with one of the safety pins in her sleeve. "A-all the equipment came down, and the fire sprinkles went off, and – and Artie just…just _stopped moving_— I don't know what happened—"

"Tina," Mr. Schue cut in, squeezing her arm. "Tina, calm down. Take a deep breath and start from the beginning. Okay?"

She inhaled a long, shaky breath, trying to steel her nerves as much as possible before starting again. "Okay, uh… M-Mike and I were practicing our routine for Glee, and A-Artie came in and thought we were doing s-something behind his back… He – he got angry, and all the windows started breaking—"

"Angry? Angry how?" Figgins interrupted.

"E-everything just kind of e-exploded—"

"What do you mean?" Mr. Schue asked.

"I don't mean _he_ exploded… I mean, everything a-around him exploded—"

"Tina, you're not making any sense here."

"_How_ exactly am I s-supposed to make s-sense when I don't unders-s-stand it either—"

Mr. Schue sighed and spoke to Figgins. "She's not in any state of mind to help us understand what happened here. We need to call her parents – the best thing for her right now is to go home."

"William, I understand that the girl has been through quite an ordeal, but I have to have a solid answer to give to the parents who are going to call when their children go home today," Figgins said sternly, then turned his attention back to Tina. "Miss Cohen-Chang, I know that this may be hard for you, but it is paramount that you help us understand what went on in the choir room and the auditorium."

"Wait," Mr. Schue cut in. "Why don't we call Miss Pillsbury and have Tina talk with her?"

Figgins pursed his lips in thought. "I think that may be a good idea."

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Miss Pillsbury had been called in to school and Tina was sitting across from her desk, her clothes only somewhat less damp and her hair still full of glass. Miss Pillsbury was staring nervously at the cut on Tina's cheek (the only cut she'd received from the exploding windows).

"Do you want some disinfectant for that?" she squeaked.

Tina shook her head. "It's not bleeding anymore."

"Right. Right. So," Miss Pillsbury started, fidgeting a little in her seat. "Can you tell me what happened this afternoon?"

"You're not going t-to believe me," Tina said, also squirming in her chair. She just wanted to go _home_.

Miss Pillsbury forced her tiny mouth into a comforting smile. "Are you so sure about that?"

"I was _there_, and I st-still don't believe it."

"Well, maybe talking about it will help you process it."

Tina sighed, leaning her head against her fist. "Artie tends to overreact to things," she said. "He t-takes things personally. Th-that's why he thought M-Mike and I were ch-cheating on him."

Miss Pillsbury tilted her head to the side, looking a little like a cocker spaniel. "Artie thought you and Mike were having an affair?"

"W-we were just dancing, I swear – and it was for Glee club, but—"

"Tina," Miss Pillsbury stopped her. "It's okay. I'm not here to make assumptions. I know you're having a hard time with this and frankly, that's a good thing. A close friend of yours died today – I'd be worried if you weren't freaked out."

Tina nodded, hugging her torso.

"So, can you tell me what happened after Artie saw you and Mike dancing?"

Tina's nails dug into her palms. She was _not_ going to have a panic attack. "E-everything started breaking."

Miss Pillsbury blinked her enormous eyes. "Breaking?"

"Yeah."

"What broke?"

"A-all the glass," Tina said, squeezing her fists tighter. She felt a little light-headed. "The – the windows and lights… Everything."

Miss Pillsbury blinked again. "…How did they break?"

"I – I don't know, Artie did something—" Tina stammered. She sucked in a huge breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm herself down. "There was s-so much pressure in the room, so Mike and I r-ran…"

If Tina had been less freaked out, she might have been amazed by the fact that, contrary to popular belief, Miss Pillsbury's eyes could actually grow even wider. Rather than focus on Tina's broken description of what had happened in the choir room, Miss Pillsbury asked, "And you ran to the auditorium?"

"Yeah, we… we were there a few minutes a-and Artie came in and—" Tina gritted her teeth, forcing herself not to cry. "—and he-he-he locked the doors. He locked us in."

Finally, Tina lost the battle with the rock in her throat and broke down into tears, her makeup smudging even more as she hid her face in her hands. Miss Pillsbury got up from her desk and trotted over to sit in the chair next to Tina, reaching out with a tentative hand and patting her shoulder.

"I'm s-sorry," Tina hiccupped.

"No, no, no, don't be," Miss Pillsbury said. "It's normal to be scared after something like this."

Tina only hiccupped again in response.

"Can, uh…can you tell me what happened after that?"

Taking another long breath, Tina started again. "He – he locked us in, and then the – the lights blew out—"

"Like in the choir room?"

"Yeah," Tina nodded, sniffing. "Then the – the spotlights and everything started f-falling onto the stage, a-and the pressure got worse and—"

"Slow down, Tina," Miss Pillsbury said softly. "It's okay."

Tina hugged her chest, clenching her fists against the rising panic. "The fire s-sprinklers went off," she said, her voice cracking. "I-I don't know wh-why, but they did and then… then a bunch of electrical st-stuff – wires – fell down…" She swallowed and drew a shuddering breath. "Artie looked surprised."

Miss Pillsbury paused, staring at Tina in confusion for a moment before asking, "What do you mean, 'surprised'?"

"He – he looked surprised and then he just – just stopped moving."

Miss Pillsbury's eyebrows knitted together. "Just like that?"

Tina nodded, a fresh stream of tears spilling down her cheeks. Miss Pillsbury patted her shoulder again, saying softly, "I'm going to step outside and talk to Mr. Schuester. Is that okay or do you want me to stay?"

"N-no, it's f-fine," Tina managed to get out.

"Okay, I'll be back in a minute."

* * *

Just down the hall from Emma's office, Will had been pacing for nearly a half-hour, anxiously waiting for her to finish talking to Tina. A thousand thoughts were running through his head and amongst them all, he could not rid himself of the image of Artie's wheelchair sitting alone and empty amidst a pile of destroyed electrical equipment. Finally, the door to Emma's office opened and Emma walked out, wringing her hands.

"Any progress?" he asked.

"I got the story out of her," Emma said hesitantly. "Well, I got _a_ story – I don't know if it's the right one."

"What? What do you mean?"

Emma bit her lip. "Will…what Tina described was…not physically possible."

"_What?_"

"According to her, Artie was telekinetic."

"That's impossible—"

"I know," Emma cut him off. "Will, this kind of thing can mess with a person's head. I don't think Tina's in her right mind."

"Are you saying she's crazy?"

Emma's eyes widened and she shook her head. "No! No, no, what I'm saying is that Tina's having a hard time coping. I think she's constructed her own reality in order to deal with it. These things happen."

Will sighed, running a hand through his hair. "So what do we do?"

"Well, I think Tina and Mike both need to go home, get some rest, take a few days off school, and then… I think each of them should have a psychoanalysis test. You know, by a professional psychologist. This kind of thing is hard to deal with and they're going to need something more than I can give them."

Will nodded. "Okay, uh… are you okay talking to their parents about this?"

"Absolutely."

"Okay." Will cast a glance into Emma's office at Tina, who was obviously still crying. "You think she'll be okay?"

Emma nodded. "With time, I'm sure she'll be able to sort out what really happened."

* * *

**A/N: And it's finished! Thanks for reading, and I hope you'll all read the other installments in the _Expect The Unexpected_ series!**


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